This month Universal is releasing a number of titles on
Blu-ray geared for the Halloween season, among them Shaun of
the Dead (reviewed HERE.) On that same day (Sept. 22), Edgar
Wright and Simon Pegg’s next movie together, Hot Fuzz, will
also hit the shelves.

The two movies, both, in their curious and unique way,
parodies, make for interesting comparisons: Hot Fuzz is a
less linear, more episodic narrative. It is far less clear
where we are heading in the story or even what mood or
effect on the audience the filmmakers are aiming at, though
both movies share something of this ambiguity. Even though
Shaun grows out of the zombie genre, Hot Fuzz is much
weirder, and the production design more exotic – both
visually and sonically. The characters are really off the
scale.

In Hot Fuzz, the story and characterization charms and
repels us by turns. The film displays that subtle sense of
English sense of humour we know so well, but it also
contains a few frightfully grisly moments. It's a little
like Lindsay Anderson's "if…." on crystal meth. Much is made
in the press about this being a parody of the buddy cop
genre, but the film is so dense with distractions that you
could be excused for ignoring that particular line of
thought. The casual moviegoer might find the proceedings
exceedingly off-putting; but the seasoned veteran,
especially those who appreciate off-the-wall black humour,
will likely find much to amuse and titillate.

The Movie: 8
Police Officer Nicholas Angel (Simon Pegg) is what we would
call a “Super Cop”. He excels in every aspect of police
work. The problem is that his superiors find him a source of
some embarrassment even though he may be a hero to the
public. Worse yet, being right all the time can be truly
annoying to his fellow officers. Officer Angel makes
everyone else look bad. It seems to his superiors that the
only sensible recourse is to transfer Officer Angel to some
remote country village: in this case, Sandford, a quiet town
with certificates of Best Model Village going way back to
prove it. And that’s the rub. It is also the mystery.

When Angel permits no crime, however slight, to go unnoticed
or unbooked, he is reminded that he should take things more
in stride, to understand what is for the “greater good” and
what is not, and that his predecessor snapped simply because
he took things too seriously. We learn soon enough that,
while Sandford may not have any crime, at least none on the
record books, the citizenry is peculiarly and grotesquely
accident prone. It’s no secret to the audience that these
accidents are murders, pure and simple, but what Officer
Angel can’t quite get a handle on is why his fellow
policemen and the public at large don’t see it that way.

Simon Pegg’s Angel is relentless in his pursuit of the
truth. He is aided by a huge cast of familiar and unfamiliar
character actors, all chewing up the scenery with their
various assignments. Jim Broadbent is Inspector Butterman
who has a unique aversion to paper work. His son, PC Danny
Butterman, played by Nick Frost - even more inane and
persistent than he was in Shaun of the Dead – is Officer
Angel's new partner and is constantly asking Super Cop about
his adventures, hoping that something will rub off. Timothy
Dalton (Licence to Kill, The Lion in Winter) is the town
grocer, Simon Skinner, who offers every opportunity to
incriminate himself with lines like “Lock me up. I'm a
slasher! I must be stopped! (Officer Angel: You're a what?)
A slasher... of prices! I'm Simon Skinner - I run the local
supermarché.” Paul Freeman (Belloq in Raiders of the Last
Ark) is Rev. Shooter, the town clergyman, who, along with
Bill Nighy (Pirates of the Caribbean, Underworld, Valkyrie),
Edward Woodward (Breaker Morant), David Threlfall (The Life
& Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby), and, though you only see
her eyes and hear her voice, an uncredited Cate Blanchett,
are among a long list of those whose presence would be
sorely missed, and who make this movie the funny and macabre
couple of hours that it is.

Image:
9/9 NOTE:The below
Blu-ray
captures were taken directly from the
Blu-ray
disc.
The first number indicates a relative level of excellence
compared to other Blu-ray video discs on a ten-point scale.
The second number places this image along the full range of
DVD and Blu-ray discs.

Hot Fuzz, like Shaun of the Dead, is a glossy presentation.
There are the occasional special effects with explosions and
things that go splat, but the CG is well integrated even
with apparent post processing - exaggerated contrast with
blown out highs being the most obvious, though intended,
effect. There's a fine grain that persists. Flesh tones are
correct. Color is a trifle desaturated. Textures are more
refined than in Shaun. Resolution is tighter as well, though
facial texture is often absent detail. Blacks are strong,
with good shadow detail even in night scenes. Dimensionality
is quite good, even in night scenes. Noise is pretty much
non-existent. I found no distracting blemishes, artifacts,
enhancement, or DNR. Bit rates are high and dynamic,
averaging around 30.

CLICK EACH BLU-RAY
CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION

Audio & Music:
9/8
Here things get a little dicey, and whether you like the
result depends partly on how you feel about bass and how ell
your playback system is in control of it. For Hot Fuzz has
some monster LFE, and it comes on often – at just about
every transition from one scene to another, it seems. The
effect is clearly designed to keep us alert to something
lurking in the plot, and it isn’t long before we find out
what that is, even if we don’t know why.

The exaggerated LFE is one difference between the audio mix
here and in Shaun. Both present as creatively detailed
soundscapes that take effects, music, ambiance and dialogue
into account. The other difference is the sheer volume of
this mix. Surrounds are used extensively to drown us in
dynamically presented, often overwhelming information:
passing trains, flying bullets, crashing bullets, passing
helicopters, explosions, even the opening voiceover – all
serve to create a darkly comic sense of foreboding. When not
hitting us over the head or in the gut, the audio mix
conveys all the desired environmental ambience necessary,
from distant mooing to casual traffic.

Given that the English is fairly colloquial it may help to
activate the subtitles from time to time. There is one
hilarious scene where Officer Angel employs a translator.
The witness sounds like he’s merely moaning, but the moment
he is translated we automatically play back what was said in
our head and he suddenly he makes perfect sense, especially
with the subs. It’s all very odd.

Operations:
7
The menu is laid out like other Universal Blu-rays. Arrows
tell you which way to direct your remote, and the bonus
feature instructions are detailed and intuitive. The chapter
menu includes buttons for U-Control in case you want to
approach those functions from that point.

Extras:
9
For those of us who need – or appreciate – the need for
translation in depth, Universal offers, not one or two or
even three audio commentaries, but five. And not just five,
but sensible, rather than arbitrary, groupings of
commentators: In addition to the obvious choice of Director
and Co-writer Edgar Wright & Actor and Co-writer Simon Pegg
who, among a host of other topics, discuss the world of the
movie cliché; we have roundtable comments from the actors
that make up The Sandford Police Service (Simon Pegg, Nick
Frost, Jim Broadbent, Rage Spall, Kevin Eldon & Olivia
Colman), perhaps the most rollicking of these commentaries;
and The Sandford Villagers (Kenneth Cranham, Timothy Dalton,
Paul Freeman & Edward Woodward) – the most sober of the
discussions. Not enough for you? How about one with Director
Wright & Quentin Tarantino, who have a good time delving
into the police buddy movie genre and assorted other bits;
and yet another with two Real-life Fuzz, Andy Leafe & Nick
Eckland, rural cops who helped with the technical research
for the film.

The multitude of other extra features are grouped as police
procedures, “The Evidence Room” includes the Making-of
featurette titled quite simply "We Made Hot Fuzz" and a host
of shorter segments behind the scenes. “Forensics” includes
the usual suspects of production: set design,
cinematography, and for some strange reason, the relatives
of the filmmakers. “Inadmissible” are the deleted scenes. In
"Hearsay" we uncover my favorite funny bit: "Plot Holes,"
where various actors in character anticipate critical
response to a few plot discontinuities. They relate how it
all works out for the scene in question. Of course, the
explanation is even more ludicrous than the plot hole they
try to repair. Also included in The Evidence Room (now that
I think of it, that room was completely empty in the movie!)
is Simon's first cop movie "Dead Right" made when he was 18.
It comes with an optional commentary and an intro. The
Fuzzball Rally is a video blog of the Hot Fuzz U.S. Press
Tour, featuring Simon, David and Nick. This one comes with
optional commentary, which I enjoyed as much or more than
the actual soundtrack. There's lots more, but I'm going to
quit now while I'm behind.

The U-Control: Fuzz-O-Meter, like Shaun's Zomb-O-Meter,
operates pop-ups with all manner of production details.
U-Control can also bring up storyboards in concert with some
of the scenes. All of the extra features are in 480i/p, and
look fair to good. The only thing wanting is an HD
presentation.

Bottom line:
9
More than with most films, I’m going to need a second
viewing to make up my mind about Hot Fuzz. At the moment,
after having seen it just this once, I am quite giddy about
the experience. Image quality is excellent, considering the
intentions of the design. Audio is even better. Extra
features are informative and entertaining. Both Hot Fuzz and
Shaun of the Dead are priced to stale at $29.98 MSRP. That's
less than $20.00 at Amazon. Hands Up.

Leonard NorwitzSeptember 8th, 2009

About the Reviewer: I first noticed that some movies were actually "films" back around
1960 when I saw Seven Samurai (in the then popular truncated version),
La Strada and
The Third Man for the first time. American classics were a later and
happy discovery.

My earliest teacher in Aesthetics was Alexander Sesonske, who encouraged the
comparison of unlike objects. He opened my mind to the study of art in a broader
sense, rather than of technique or the gratification of instantaneous events. My
take on video, or audio for that matter – about which I feel more competent – is
not particularly technical. Rather it is aesthetic, perceptual, psychological
and strongly influenced by temporal considerations in much the same way as
music. I hope you will find my musings entertaining and informative, fun,
interactive and very much a work in progress.